1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wheelchairs and is particularly directed to decorative body shells which are mountable on conventional wheelchairs to simulate automobiles and the like and which serve to enclose and protect the legs and lower torso of a person seated in the wheelchair to protect that person from injury due to collision, while leaving that person's upper body unenclosed and providing free access for that person to the wheels of the wheelchair to enable that person to freely manipulate those wheels.
2. Prior Art
As is well known, many thousands of people are confined to wheelchairs each year, due to illness, accident or other misfortune. When this occurs, a considerable amount of mental therapy is required to assist the victim in adjusting to such confinement. While such adjustment is a serious matter with all wheelchair patients, it is far more serious in the case of children, who often tend to develop severe inferiority complexes as a result of such confinement. Furthermore, wheelchairs are designed for function, rather than for esthetics, and the appearance of prior art wheelchairs is certainly not pleasing to the eye and even tends to have an appearance which is mentally depressing. Thus, prior art wheelchairs serve to provide mobility for non-ambulatory patients, however, the appearance of the prior art wheelchairs also serves as a constant reminder to the patients that they are disabled. These problems are especially aggravated for children when the wheelchair patients encounter other children playing in peddle-driven toy vehicles, such as cars, trucks, airplanes and the like. Unfortunately, most wheelchair patients cannot operate such peddle driven vehicles, even if they could manage to climb into and out of such toy vehicles. Thus, the wheelchair patients must simply sit by and watch, while other children enjoy such toys. Over the years, numerous improvements have been made to improve the functioning of wheelchairs and to provide accessories which would enhance the functionality of wheelchair patients. However, virtually nothing has been done to improve the appearance of the wheelchairs.
It is also well known that a person seated in a wheelchair is often subject to collision and possible serious injury to their legs, especially when maneuvering in close quarters and areas where other persons are likely to be inattentive. For example, when shopping in grocery stores and the like, it is common for other shoppers to stumble against the person in the wheelchair or to bump their shopping cart against the wheelchair occupant, which can cause serious injury to the wheelchair occupant's legs. Also, when attempting to reach a product on a nearby shelf, it is not uncommon for the wheelchair occupant to unintentionally dislodge one or more additional cans or packages, which can fall onto the wheelchair occupant's lap and cause injury. Similarly, in any public area, it is not uncommon for persons to stumble against the wheelchair occupant or for skaters or bicycle riders to collide with the wheelchair occupant causing possible serious injury to the wheelchair occupant's legs. Prior art wheelchairs do nothing to protect the occupant from such accidents. Thus, none of the prior art wheelchairs have been entirely satisfactory.